Book Review "When Women Were Priests"

Here is the book review I wrote for my History of Christianity class. I did not change anything for this post -the professor asked that we use headings for the chapters, so I left those in.

Torjesen, Karen Jo. When Women Were Priests. New York: Harper Collins, 1995. Print.

In the novel, “When Women Were Priests,” Karen Jo Torjesen explores the roles of women within the early Christian church. She looks at the ways Greco-Roman culture influenced gender roles in the early Christian community, and how views of women went from bad to worse. The movement of the church from a private to a public entity played a large role in the process of renunciation of women leadership. Torjesen reviews several different sources to prove that women were once capable leaders of the church.

In 1976 the Vatican published a document claiming that women cannot lead a church because their bodies are not like male bodies, therefore it would be sacrilegious for a women to perform the sacred roles that priests are asked to (intro. 3). On the other hand, in 1976 the Episcopal Church in the United States decided to allow women priests, but it was not until 1992 that the Church of England followed suit (intro. 2). While, today, we see many Churches allowing women leaders, the idea of women priests was still an issue during the time that Torjesen wrote this novel. Torjesen is asking her readers to think differently about the role of women within the church and to see both sexes as equals.

Preachers, Pastors, Prophets, and Patrons

Torjesen starts the book off with evidence that women were priests during the first few centuries of Christianity. There are different pieces of art that show women as priests. One is a mosaic that hangs above a basilica in Rome that depicts four female figures, one of which is Bishop Theodora. The inscriptions on graves can also show that women were priests; one such marker titles a woman named Epiktas as a presbyter (9-10).

Turning to the bible for support, one finds Lydia who is a woman who defies our beliefs of ancient women. Lydia was a merchant who traveled for business. She also ran a household and owned slaves. Paul’s letters are also biblical proof of women leaders as he writes to the women who founded and ran the church at Phillipi (15).

Household Management and Women’s Authority

There was a change in views of women leaders because during this time Christians were being condemned by Roman society. In an effort to gain credibility with the Romans, Christians decided to take on their cultural views, which ended badly for women (38). There is proof of women running churches and having a role in society regardless of other indications that women were heavily suppressed. In the next chapter, Torjesen addresses this contradiction.

Women were quite capable and were allowed to run a trade as well as a household (which required much more work than it does today). There is a conflict between what really happened in society and what people saw as ideological. According to Aristotle, men are the head of the household, and women are subordinate to men. During the first and second centuries of the Common Era, women could get around the rule of a man by choosing a tutor who acted as her “guardian.” Emperor Augustus declared that women who had at least three children were legally independent (58-62). An ancient Egyptian marriage contract has been found that puts the man and wife on equal terms. The contract states that either man or wife may dissolve the marriage if deemed necessary, and neither may commit adultery. If one accuses the other of adultery or any other crime, a case must be presented to a group of jurors who will consider the evidence and decide the legitimacy of the charge (66-7).

It is true that women were viewed as keepers of the household; however, that notion required a lot more work than it does today. Running a house usually included running a trade of some sort, as well. The wife was in charge of all of the slaves and other forms of work within the house, including the children. She was in charge of raising the children, and making sure they were educated. Women were also in charge of the finances. Torjesen compares running a house to running a small factory (69). All of the duties required of a housewife were also required of a priest. Since women are already capable of running a house, it only makes sense that they can also run a church (76-80). While women are the ideal household managers, the task of taking care of the home was not restricted to women alone. There are cases of men running houses, as well (80-1).

Patronage and Women’s Power

Torjesen continues throughout the next chapter to show the legitimacy of the authority that women had in the early centuries of the Common Era. These women contradict the common views that women were suppressed during the early centuries. Lucilla was known for keeping and kissing a martyr’s bone. The archdeacon, Caecillian censored her and forbade celebrating martyrs in a spiritual way. Lucilla used her social standing and power to start a “church of Martyrs.” This church remained intact until the seventh century (90-1).

Women who had authority were known and recognized as patrons. These patrons were generous with money and gifts, and they acted as benefactors in many cases. Emperor Augustus’ wife was the most powerful political figures in first century Rome (88). She gave dowries to daughters of men who needed financial help, she helped those who were injured or left homeless because of fires, and she sent gifts to the Jewish temple in Jerusalem (94-5).  

Proof of these endeavors lies in the early statues and awards that these female patrons were awarded. They were sometimes even given divine status for their good work within the community. Torjesen uses this information to contradict the notion that women were to be kept in the private domain of the household because in order to offer this much to their community, the work had to be within the public domain (103-6).

Public Women, Private Virtues

Torjesen moves on to the next chapter, showing how sexism worsened, and contradicting the social authority that women had in the first two centuries. Men and women had different “virtues” that were required of them. According to these virtues, men were to exhibit courage, justice, and self- mastery. These virtues tied men to the public sphere. Women were to remain silent, obedient, and chaste. A woman was to do everything she could to protect her innocence and prove that she was chaste. These virtues meant that women were to remain in the house, a private sphere (115-18). Notice that these virtues placed upon the female would not allow her to be a patron (public work) or to engage in many of the duties that were required of running a household. Biblical scripture was used to silence women and force them to stay within the house. One of many examples says to “Let wives be submissive as is appropriate in the Lord” (Col. 38:18).

These views were placed on Christian woman, mainly because it was believed that a woman was lustful and could not control herself, especially if she had authority and was a public woman. Montanists, Gnostics, and Arians all had public women. They were called heretics because they allowed women into the public domain, they allowed women leaders, and they did not feel as though a public woman had issues with controlling her sexual desires (122).

A Woman’s Honor is Her Shame

The next chapter deals with the notion of female shame. A woman’s shame is her inability to control her animalistic sexual desires. Paul said that women prophets should wear a veil so as to acknowledge their shame and inferiority to men (144-5). Women’s virtues were now being used against them. The didascalia is a set of disciplinary procedures and code for church organization from the third century, and it stated that widows who were benefactors to the church were not to “run around” ministering to or baptizing others. They were to acknowledge their shame and stay at home. As time wears on, women are increasingly put under the control of men. They were once honored for their public duties, and patronage, but in the third century, even a female benefactor is looked down upon because of her gender.

When the Church Goes Public

Constantine’s conversion did a lot of good for Christians, but negatively affected women. When he came to power, the Church no longer had to hide from Roman persecution. Initially, Christians met in house Churches. Since the house was the woman’s domain, women were usually the leaders of the church, but when the Churches went public, the cultural gender virtues were still applicable – women were to remain in the private sphere.

Constantine also gave public authority to Churches. The Bishops’ courts, for example, were given as much power as the municipal courts (157). Roman law increasingly influenced the Christian Church. Torjesen uses documents from Tertullian as an example of the worsening treatment of women. Tertullian argued that it is wrong for women to teach, baptize, or perform the Eucharist because women have no authority and do not belong in the public domain (161-64). He also demanded that women, even virgins, wear a veil when they are in public to demonstrate their acknowledgement of their inferiority. Women were only allowed to wear minimal gold or other colors in their clothing, and no jewelry or makeup (167-68).

Women did try to fight this by begging men, the only ones who had a right to vote, to vote against these rules. Women wanted to be able to wear their colorful clothing and jewelry to show their social status. This, of course, did not work. According to Tertullian, Paul (from the bible) and others, women were to be as plain as possible, and wear a veil in public to show that they recognize their own shame.   

The Penetrator and the Penetrated

Torjesen continues to use Roman cultures to explain how and why Christian women went from being leaders to being cast away and hidden inside the house. In Roman culture, a woman’s sexuality determined whether or not she was a good woman. These views were upheld in the second century, and it was not until later on (fourth and fifth centuries) that they infiltrated Christian society.

In the second century, Plato mentioned that the purpose of sexual activity is to procreate. Any use of sexual intercourse without the desire of procuring children is wrong. His ideas did not take hold until later, when Christians took up the notion of abstinence and honoring sexual chastity (191-92). However, this notion was upheld for certain women. Such women were the wives of men. Husbands were allowed to have parties in their homes where many slaves, entertainers (both sexual entertainers and those who entertained with the arts) and concubines were present. While these Symposiums, as they were called, took place, the man’s wife and daughters were to remain chaste and stay away from the room in which the Symposium was taking place. Torjesen discusses the sexual escapades of men in Roman society to show where the ideas of male dominance came from.

Torjesen also discusses the meanings of sexual dreams in Roman society. Artemidorus Daldianus was a second century sexual dream interpreter. I will not detail what these dreams were and what they meant, but it is important to know that it parallels social experience and male dominance (183).  It also shows that, in Roman society, women were seen as having an animalistic libido in which they must keep under control by remaining chaste, while men were able to be free with their sexual desires.

Sin is a Sexually Communicable Disease

During the time of Roman persecutions, women were able to redeem themselves by giving their life to martyrdom. Later on, asceticism took its place. By claiming a life of chastity, women were able to procure a holy life for themselves. Both men and women became ascetics and created communities of monks and nuns. In the sixteenth century, it became clear that these communities were corrupt (233). Because monastic life was previously deemed as holy as a human could become, when it was found to have been corrupted, people started looking at the bible differently.

Martin Luther said that, according to Genesis, men and women were created equally, and because they were created as companions, sexual desire must not be evil. In fact, marriage and having children would bring one closer to spiritual holiness (234-36).  Some people did not believe Luther’s new interpretation of Genesis, but some did believe him and left the abbies and monasteries for a life of marriage and children. Even though Luther opened the door for women, and curbed the ideas on woman “shame”, he did not agree that men and women were completely equal. In Genesis, it is said that Eve was given to Adam to be his helper, and so women are still subordinate to men, but on a different level than that of earlier centuries (239-241).

What if God Had Breasts?

The book ends by going back in time, to very early European society. There was a time when women and men were equal. There was no hierarchy in society and everyone worked together. This society also had no weapons. Archaeological excavations have shown societies where men and women have the same size of burial sites, and the same amount of goods buried with them. The gods of this time were mostly women, none of whom were depicted with weapons. These goddesses were representations of the power of “life and creativity” (252-4). Nomadic warriors moved in on these peaceful tribes, bringing weapons and angry gods who were always depicted with a weapon of some sort. These warriors brought into Old European society a hierarchy, male domination, and angry gods. Life was no longer peaceful. Women were no longer equal to men.

Torjesen uses biblical passages that refer to God as a female figure. In many passages, God is portrayed protecting his (or her) children as a mother would protect her own (Hos. 13.8, Ps. 17.8, 36.7, 91.4). She ends the chapter, and the novel, by demanding a return to the Old European views of an equal society within the Christian religion (268-69).

Throughout the book, Torjesen portrays the rise and fall of women in the Christian church (as well as Greco – Roman society) with the use of artwork – mosaics, paintings, and pottery as well as funerary materials –grave inscriptions, the goods buried with women, and the size of burial plot juxtaposed with the size of a male burial plot. She shows how the bible has been used to portray both sides of the story, with the idea of Adam and Eve and original sin, to the idea that they were created as companions, and sexual desire should not be something to be ashamed of. She also uses quotes from men like Tertullian, John Chrystosom, Thomas Acquinas, Aristotle, and Plato. The early Greco –Roman culture is used to supply a base idea of how these views of women entered Christian society. This diverse range of sources lends to a novel that has been thoughtfully pieced together to give a thorough account of the high and low points of women within the Christian church.